Session 13: Different degrees of contentiousness? The politics of minimum income schemes in Europe and beyond Chair: Matteo Jessoula (Univeristy of Milan & ESPN), Paolo Graziano (University of Padua & OSE) Call for paper http://www.espanet-italia.net/call-for-paper2016/elenco-delle-sessioni/44-conferenza2016/sessioni/381-sessione-13.html Traditionally representing a key feature of Liberal welfare regimes and the social protection “floor” in Socialdemocratic welfare states, means-tested minimum income schemes (MIS) have been introduced and then expanded in Southern and Eastern European countries, as well as in other world areas – e.g. Latin America, China, etc. - in the last two decades. A broad strand of literature focusing on such last resort anti-poverty schemes has also flourished as a result of the increased attention of scholars working on welfare state development. In these works, the analytical focus has mostly been on policy developments and governance issues either at national level or in comparative perspective. The political dimension of minimum income schemes has been, however, much less explored. Also in light of the “weak politics”– i.e. the generally limited scope for “credit claiming”in this policy sector due to low political relevance of would be beneficiaries (Madama and Jessoula 2015) – the introduction of these schemes has often been interpreted as the result of policy learning and/or mimesis-diffusion processes. By contrast, some recent contributions have argued that politics substantially matters also in this policy field (Clegg 2014; Lalioti 2016), also suggesting that the degree of contentiousness may vary remarkably across the different countries (Jessoula et al. 2014, Natili 2015). Following this line of research, this session welcomes papers which analyze – theoretically or empirically - the political economy of non-contributory (generally, means-tested) minimum income schemes. Papers presenting both comparative analyses and case studies addressing the following questions can be proposed. * Which is the degree of contentiousness of MIS among the main political and social actors in a country/across countries? * Has the crisis changed the political nature of MIS? * What is the role played by different types of social actors (trade unions, religious organizations and associations) and stakeholders (poverty lobbies, informally organized beneficiaries) in policymaking processes in the field? * Which orientations and attitudes regarding MIS do political actors show? * How do cleavage and party system structures shape the political economy arena of MIS? * How do “ideas” and “values” affect the politics of MIS? * What is the role of the main international and supranational institutions in this camp? The session will be held in English. To submit a paper proposal, you may fill the form available at the link http://www.espanet-italia.net/call-for-paper2016/send-the-abstract2016.html The paper proposal should be a 500-800 word abstract, which is expected to: *synthesize the main issue or research question the paper will deal with; *indicate the major working hypotheses underlying the research, including adopted methodology and related sources of information; and *illustrate the most relevant findings as well as the research contribution to current literature. In line with previous Espanet conference editions, session coordinators will accept no more than 4 papers and organize a paper session assuring: *a comparative approach to social policy analysis, both within the country and at the international level; *an inter- and multi-disciplinary approach to social policy analysis; * the advancement of knowledge with respect to the evolution of social problems and policies; and * collaborative exchanges among scholars, researchers, and pratictioners. Selection process The deadline for submitting an abstract is May 31, 2016. Submissions need to follow the guidelines listed in the form "Send the Abstract". The Organizing Committee will forward all received abstracts to session coordinators. Session coordinators will classify abstracts as follows: *accepted: the paper will be presented and discussed at the conference; *accepted as an online contribution: the paper will be posted on the Espanet conference website, but it will not be presented within the related session but in case of absence of a panelist; *not accepted. Authors will receive the notice on the acceptance/refusal of their abstracts through email by the Organizing Committee onJune 10, 2016. Authors of accepted abstracts need to send their complete papers by August 27, 2016 directly to session coordinators, and in cc to espanet2016mc@gmail.com as well. Organizers and contact persons: Matteo Jessoula Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali e Politiche - Università degli Studi di Milano Via Conservatorio 7, Milano - Phone: (+39) 02 50321037 matteo.jessoula@unimi.it Paolo Graziano Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche, Giuridiche e Studi Internazionali - Università degli Studi di Padova, Via del Santo, 28 – Padova – Phone: (+39) 049 8274033 paoloroberto.graziano@unipd.it